


are we true, or is it just me and you

by minslov



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dancer Lee Minho | Lee Know, Developing Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Han Jisung | Han-centric, Happy Ending, Inspired by 2gether: The Series (TV), M/M, Minor Hwang Hyunjin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Pining, Romantic Comedy, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:34:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29648601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minslov/pseuds/minslov
Summary: Jisung almost lets it go, labelling it as another failed plan when his phone starts vibrating in his pocket. He fishes his phone out, a dreadful caller ID greeting him as soon as the screen’s in his line of vision, and a new wave of determination hits him at his best.Picking up his pace once again, Jisung stands a few metres away from the boy in question, as he says his next words with an unnamed confidence.“Lee Minho, will you be my boyfriend?”or where, Jisung has an admirer he hates, and the only way to get himself away from the other is to pretend to date.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 10
Kudos: 73
Collections: MINSUNG FICATHON: Round One; 2020





	are we true, or is it just me and you

**Author's Note:**

> `Written for [MINSUNG FICATHON](http://twitter.com/minsungficathon), for PROMPT **A016**`
> 
> `hello! look who finally made it just at the last moment of the deadline shsdj. despite the difficulty of having to write like 6k words in a day, this was my first time participating in a ficfest and it was so much fun. thank you to the anonymous prompter for this idea, and i hope you like it :D`  
> `  
>  **this fiction is inspired by 2gether: the series**  
>  ps: this has not been proofread till now, so i’m sorry in case there are any typos or grammatical errors  
> `

“I think I’m gonna head to the studio again after my mass comm class”, Hyunjin says, his feet scraping against the pavement as he halts to a stop and faces Minho.

“Oh, any changes you wanna make in any part of the choreo?”, Minho asks, his actions following Hyunjin’s as he leans against the wall behind him and catches eye contact with the other.

“Nothing I could think of right now, but maybe going over it for a couple of times can help.”

“Sounds good, although I don’t think I’ll be able to make it today. Got some assignments due”, Minho said, his voice deflating at the end as the thoughts of piled up work sent a shiver down his spine. Till date he has no idea why he thought being a computer science major would be easy.

“And lemme guess, you haven’t started any of them”, Hyunjin tsks, making Minho scoff, as if he was any better.

With their usual bickering in place, Minho shifts his attention to the sky. It was oddly clear today, no big clouds hovering over the place yet the weather wasn’t too warm. It was just perfect, with the warm breeze hitting his face with every step and it’s the fragrance of cherry blossoms which makes it hundred times better. The entire campus is adorned with the pinkish hue of them, and he swears he’s close to being at peace in such calm surroundings. 

He wants to fight Hyunjin on his comment, remind him of all the times the other had crashed in his place and forced him to help him through his work in the middle of the nights but he decides against it. Just for today, it’s better to soak up into the silence that surrounds them instead of having to break into a conversation. After all, nothing’s wrong with letting out your nature lover once in a while, especially not when surrounded by flowers in bloom.

“Also, Lix was asking―”, Hyunjin begins to speak again, and Minho’s almost about to shut him up for a moment of peace, before a sharp scream does the work for him instead.

Both the boys turn around, startled by the loud noise, as their eyes land on the source. There he was, a man not much shorter than Minho himself, running around with his screaming continuing as if there was no end to it.

His face was barely identifiable from such a distance, and Minho swears he has never seen such a similar shade of orange on any one of his classmates’ hair. And following him was another guy, his hair a sharp blue contrasting against the background, as he runs after the first one with a big smile plastered on his face. 

The scene’s almost comical, the screaming breaking away whatever calm Minho had grown to appreciate in the past few minutes. He couldn’t help but let a confused look take over his face, eyebrows raised, as he wondered what could have possibly led to the marathon the two boys seemed to be having. He wonders if the orange-haired guy was in some sort of trouble but when he sees no one around him approaching to help the other, he allows the momentary worry to slip away. 

Minho turns his attention back to his friend, ready to ask him to continue whatever the other was talking about before he had been so disastrously interrupted. However, all he sees is a fond smile tugging at Hyunjin’s lips as his vision remains focused in the direction where the two boys had disappeared. 

“You know them?”, he asks, still not being able to place a name to either of the blurry faces he had seen just a moment ago.

“One of them, yeah. The other one? Barely”, Hyunjin says, voice dreamy.

;

“Woah, there. Slow down, Sung. What’s got you all running?”, Chan asks as Jisung collapses in the seat next to him. 

The smaller boy had jogged over to them at a surprisingly fast speed, his vision consistently falling behind to make sure no one had followed him. A blue haired guy, to be more exact. However, to his surprise, he saw no one making him conclude that the other must’ve lost at one of the turns he made by running through different buildings in the campus.

He’s pretty sure that’s the first time he had taken a tour of his entire university, and not just circled around the literature faculty.

“I think it’s more of a who”, Seungmin supplies, still chuckling at the image of Jisung breathing heavily in an attempt to catch his breath.

“It’s not funny, Min. And honestly, do you even have to ask?”, Jisung says, directing his words to answer Chan’s previous question. A knowing smile takes over the other’s lips as he pats Jisung on the back, as if that was going to give him any sort of comfort right now.

“You can’t deny that the kid seriously has another level of determination. Who runs around, for like what― two weeks now, after his crush in an attempt to score a date?”, Changbin says, earning a glare from Jisung.

“Yeah well, I’d prefer if Jeongin would invest that determination into studying, hyung. He seriously needs to stop wasting his time and give me one! moment! of! peace!”, Jisung says, his tone exhausted and emphasizing as he lays his head down on the table in front of him. The cold table would’ve stung him harder if his life wasn’t an already freezing nightmare.

_It all had started on a peaceful day, when Jisung was sitting down with Seungmin in the university cafeteria, chatting him up about the last girl he had gone on a date with. Heejin had been an absolute sweetheart, and she was prettier than he had expected. Jisung just couldn’t stop marvelling about how that date had been the first good one he’d been to in months. He blamed it on his bad luck for going on about six bad ones before that, but Seungmin advised him to let it all go in the name of a single good one._

_He sat there wondering how long he should wait before texting her to meet up again. Maybe this time they could go to a movie, afterall he had heard from her friends that she liked going out to cinemas. That’d surely impress her more, if Jisung’s charms hadn’t worked their magic enough on their previous coffee date._

_Jisung’s train of thoughts had been broken by Changbin, who had pushed him out of his seat and taken his spot instead. Out of all the seats empty around their table, surely the other had to bother him._

_“There’s a kid asking for you at our department’s building, Sungie”, Changbin said._

_“A kid?”, Jisung was absolutely perplexed. A kid? Asking for Jisung? The last time he remembered he did not have any cousins or younger friends in the university._

_“Yeah, looked like a year or two younger than you. Blue-haired. Kept asking me about you, so I said I’ll tell you. He’s probably still waiting there”, Changbin had said, his words coming in fragments as he rather focused his attention on the food in front of him._

_“I don’t know any blue-haired guy, hyung”, Jisung said, attempting to sit in the seat opposite to his friends when he received a kick from Seungmin under the table._

_“Ow! What was that for?”_

_“Go and see what he wants, dumbass”, Seungmin said, his voice stern leaving no room for Jisung to argue back. Before he knew it, he was already making his way back to the said building and cursing out whoever the guy was because there went his twenty minutes of break that he had before the next lecture began._

_As soon as Jisung arrived outside the doors of the literature building, he could spot a blue head peeking out from one of the corners at him. Jisung was sure that he had never seen that shade on someone before, because damn was it pretty. He walks up to the guy in question, wondering if the color would suit him as much as did the other._

_“Oh, hi, Jisung hyung!”, said the guy, surprising Jisung with just how casual he sounded. It was the first time they were meeting and the other had already taken the liberty of calling him hyung?_

_“Hey?”_

_“Wait, you probably don’t know me. I’m Yang Jeongin, a Psychology major. Also, I’m a year younger than you”, Jeongin announced proudly, his smile constant as the words slipped out of his mouth._

_“Uh, nice to meet you, Jeongin. What brings you here?”, Jisung slipped in his question, hoping it didn’t sound rude. Surely the younger looked sweet and nice, but that didn’t invalidate just how awkward this was for Jisung._

_“Oh right, that.”_

_That was the first time Jisung saw Jeongin hesitate, and the blush that crept onto Jeongin’s cheeks at that somehow just unnerved him more._

_“This is going to sound sudden but I like you, a lot. And that’s why I wanted to ask you out on a date next week”, Jeongin continued, fingers fiddling with the corners of his flannel as he settled his gaze on the ground._

_Jisung’s head stopped processing at that, and he was sure he was just living out of his weird dreams in real life. Maybe this was a prank that Changbin had planned with whoever this Jeongin dude was. However, when Jisung’s eyes landed on the shy smile that was ghosting over Jeongin’s lips, the crashing reality just hit him a bit harder._

_He was here, with a guy he had never met before. The said guy had just confessed to him, and wanted to take him out. He wanted to take Han Jisung out, the straightest guy out there who was known around the university for the number of girls he had gone out with. What the fuck._

_“I’m flattered, definitely but um―this is awkward. Jeongin, I’m sorry if you didn’t know but I’m straight”, Jisung said, his hand scratching the back of his neck as he refused to look at anywhere but the other’s face._

_However, what he was not expecting was a giggle from the said guy. He most definitely heard a giggle, that sound couldn’t be of crying._

_Just to make himself sure, Jisung finally dared to look up to the younger’s face and yup there it was. A wide smile on his lips, with no signs of tears streaming down or anything even near to dejection._

_“I already knew that, hyung”, Jeongin said, oddly cheery for a guy who had just been rejected. “But I just wanna ask you out on one date.”_

_“No, Jeongin I don’t think you get this. I’m not into guys, at all. I like girls!”, Jisung said, nearly shouting his words but lowering down his volume quick enough when he realised his surroundings._

_“Just give me one chance, hyung. I’m sure I can change your mind”, Jeongin continued, his eyes reflecting a level of persistence that Jisung was sure he didn’t like._

_However, maybe the world had decided to be a little kinder to Jisung on a rare occasion as the bell rang right that instant, saving him the effort of coming up with a reply to Jeongin’s statement. Instead, he just patted the younger’s shoulder once, before saying a quick “sorry, gotta get to class” and walking into one of the rooms near him._

Since then, it has been kind of a blur, where Jisung has just stopped counting the number of times Jeongin has chased him no matter time and place, all with the same adamant demand of his to take the other on a date.

No matter how many times Jisung stated his absolute liking for girls, the other would just pop out with a new technique every time. Sometimes there were flowers, sometimes there were concert tickets and sometimes there was even very good food involved in the offer, but Jisung has managed to restrain himself from saying yes to any of those.

Today too it had been a similar round of events. Jisung had gotten out of class, ready to meet his friends and rant about an anime he’d recently started watching just to annoy Seungmin, when a familiar blue haired boy greeted him. After that, it was their usual game of chase where Jisung had managed to slip away, courtesy of the boy who had bumped into Jeongin mid-way. He guesses it’s going to be a couple of minutes before the other would come looking for him in the cafeteria. 

“Hey, Jisung!”, Jisung’s chain of exhausting sighs is broken by the sight of a familiar friend, more specifically his neighbour Hyunjin.

“Hey, what’s up?”, Jisung responds, as the taller boy takes a seat next to him and briefly greets the rest of his friend group. 

The others haven’t been as close to Hyunjin, and Jisung didn’t expect their casual greetings to turn into a friendship either but he likes to think it’s all because of proximity. The two see each other nearly every day, sometimes heading out at the same time from their houses, other times in their one shared class and now there were casual voluntary hangouts involved too.

“Gotta hit the studio for some practice next, but I was hoping we could work on the mass comm homework together later?”, Hyunjin responds, his vision fixated on his phone as it buzzes continuously against his palm.

“And why do you assume I would wanna see your face again later?”, Jisung marvels at his great comeback, his sense of humor recovering with his breathing.

“No offence dude, but why would you not wanna see his face again? Look at him”, Changbin supplies, causing Seungmin to snicker.

“Anyways, yeah sure”, Jisung says to Hyunjin before turning his head back to Chan and slipping into their old topic of conversation again.

As much as he hates talking about the insufferable kid, he needed to come up with a solution. He can only run away for so long.

“About Jeongin, please tell me you have some ideas to get him off my back”, he mopes, nearly missing how Hyunjin perks up at the name. He guesses it must be the other’s nosy nature, ready to grasp as much gossip as he can manage, but he refuses to call him out on that. Jisung needs all the input he can get right now.

“So Hyunjin, you dance, right? I’ve heard you’re really good”, Seungmin speaks, ignoring the pout that settles on his friend’s lips at the ignorance served to him.

“Yeah, I do but I’m not that good. There are many of my friends who are better than me. You might’ve even heard about some of them. Lee Felix? He’s in the same year as us and then there’s Minho.”

“Lee Minho?”, Changbin speaks up, looking up from his phone, suddenly seeming interested in the conversation. “Oh yeah, he’s really good. I saw the cover he uploaded yesterday, and I swear everyone around me has been talking about it.”

“I’ll make sure to give him the compliment”, Hyunjin adds, with a smile.

“Am I invisible to you all?”, Jisung speaks, louder than before as he lands a bang on the table to grab the attention he craves at the moment.

“I wish you were”, Seungmin says, his tone dismissing.

“If you helped me I would disappear sooner, so how about you do that and we’ll both be happy?”

“Ugh, fine!”, Seungmin groans, sitting straighter. “How did that fake dating plan with Mijoo go? Did it not throw Jeongin off, even for a moment?”

Jisung deflates at the sudden reminder of another one of his failed attempts, supporting his figure against Hyunjin by leaning into the taller boy. 

“No! It didn’t even last for five minutes. He said he knew I was just playing with him because he had seen Mijoo with her boyfriend just earlier that week.”

“The kid’s too smart for his own good”, Chan laughs, an adoration for the younger blooming inside him. Jeongin might be annoying his friend, but there was no denying that he was a little ray of sunshine who walked around with the biggest smile on his face.

“Why don’t you just fake date a guy then? That’ll surely have a much greater impact on him”, Seungmin says.

Jisung chokes at that, spitting the caffeinated drink he was earlier gulping down, and stares at Seungmin like he’d uttered absolute nonsense. Well, he kind of did if anyone was judging.

“Did you forget the whole aim of this? I’m straight, that’s the fucking point”, he adds, wondering if it was really true that Seungmin was supposed to be the sane one amongst them.

“Yeah well, you liking girls isn’t going to stop him. Might as well pull a reverse card and pretend you already have a boyfriend. That’ll get him”, Seungmin says, seemingly proud of himself for coming up with the bizarre suggestion.

“Oh, wait that doesn’t sound too bad”, Changbin cheers him on, accompanied by an agreeable hum from Chan’s side. Well, if even Chan’s agreeing to the plan, it can’t turn out to be a complete failure.

“Well, then which one of you wants to get the once in a lifetime opportunity of fake dating me for an entire week?”, Jisung asks, propping his hands against the table and settling his face on it with a sly smile across his lips.

“Ew, definitely not me”, Seungmin gags, turning away from the eyes targeting him.

Changbin pries off the hands grabbing at him, turning a blind eye to Jisung’s pleading gaze. “Not us, dumbass. He already knows we’re bros and shit.”

At that, a sudden look of understanding flashes over Jisung. It’s evident, from his raised eyebrows and pursed lips that he’s thinking before the pieces seem to be clicking in his mind, and he turns to Hyunjin.

“What? You can’t possibly think of fake dating me”, Hyunjin says, his voice higher rushing to his defense. He couldn’t get involved in this not only because pretending to be anything more than friends with Jisung was weird, but because it involved Jeongin too. That, was definitely a dangerous territory he didn’t want to enter in at the moment.

Jisung’s shoulders slump at that, him melting in his seat and drawing away from Hyunjin’s support with a look of betrayal plastered over his face.

Hyunjin was the only person he knew well enough, except his closest friends, who he was comfortable enough in presenting the request to but Jisung assumes the idea was too good to be true anyways. All he’ll have to do is run a little more everyday for the rest of his university life, at least that would help him in getting his physical health better.

“I’d say go for someone completely unexpected, so that the chances of Jeongin calling it out are minimized”, Seungmin continues with his stream of ideas.

“Who would agree to anything like this? I can’t just put up a sign that says ‘fake boyfriend needed’.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s creepy”, Changbin responds at the same time as Jisung says “embarrassing” and it’s clear that the two boys have completely different perspectives of the situation.

The table goes silent, most of them resigning to the comfort of their phones or focusing on the food once again, leaving Jisung to contemplate his available options. He knew some other boys in the literature department, but the thought of approaching the straight ones with a request as such made him feel like he was Jeongin himself. 

The calm is broken by the ringing of Hyunjin’s phone, who himself jumps a little at the sudden noise, as he proceeds to pick up the call. If Jisung wasn’t busy wallowing in his place, he would've continued being the nuisance he always is, but today he just sits aside as the taller boy next to him hums a few times before disconnecting the call.

“Everything okay?”, Chan asks Hyunjin, who has his eyebrows furrowed and is continuously tapping on the table, as he sits there deep in thought.

“Oh, yeah. It was just Minho, asking about the arrangements for one of our performances.”

Seungmin jerks up at the mention of the other’s name, his eyes wide as he nudges Jisung continuously with his foot under the table.

“That’s it!”, he shrieks joyously.

“What―Oh”, Hyunjin must’ve gotten the meaning faster than the rest of the boys around, who are still busy housing puzzled expressions that are nowhere near to understanding the meaning of Seungmin’s sudden burst of energy.

“He’s right. Minho would make a very good option, and definitely an effective one, as your fake boyfriend”, he says to Jisung, who has taken to being frozen in his spot. 

“So, what am I supposed to do? Just walk up to probably the most famous guy in our university, ask him out for drinks and propose the idea of fake dating me? Yeah, because that’s so not creepy, right!”, Jisung pops off, his feet planted on the ground once again as he dramatically takes a stand to prove his point.

Jisung may not know what Seungmin was taking revenge for, but he wonders if it was the payment for one of his pranks last week.

“I never suggested drinks but sure, do it your way my friend”, Seungmin adds sheepishly, his stance much more relaxed as he soaks in the glory of being the only one in their group to come up with a near to effective idea. 

“Do you even hear yourself, Minnie? I have never even talked to the guy. For all we could know, he’s straight too!”

Forgetting about the fact that the said person’s best friend was literally sitting by his side, Jisung dreadingily turns to face Hyunjin as the other clears his throat to bring all the eyes back to him. A wave of embarrassment dances around Jisung’s cheeks as he realises he could be the next topic in the conversation, surely filled with a lot of mocking, between the two dancers.

“I can assure you that is not the truth”, Hyunjin says, eyes glittering in a way Jisung swore he’s seen in all the horror movies.

“Oh yeah, and why should I believe that you’re a reliable source?”

Seungmin’s sigh answers the question first before Hyunjin can speak. However, the other boy doesn’t miss his chance and jumps right back into the conversation with a chuckle.

“I’m his closest friend, which is like the only source.”

“Man’s got a point”, Changbin says, his eyes fixated on his phone screen with the faint music audible from his earplugs. Jisung would be lying if he didn’t say that he could recognize the Among Us sounds, courtesy of his own obsession.

Realising that his arguments are slowly losing their ground, Jisung settles back into his seat with a pout as big as he could manage. He’d never talked to Minho before, but that wasn’t entirely an issue since he took pride in being an approaching introvert. If anything beside literature was his forte, it had to be making friends. And as for the possibility of Minho not being into boys, well he definitely said that one too soon.

“So you’re just okay with all this? Us planning about how to creepily ask your ‘closest friend’ to be my fake boyfriend?”, Jisung supplies at last, with his only defence being somehow morally tripping Hyunjin to disagree with this whole plan.

“His life’s too dry, he could definitely use some laughter based on your misery.”

“Also, don’t count us in this mess. You’re going alone to talk to him”, Seungmin says in a heartbeat, as a response to Jisung’s words.

;

Three days later, and here’s Jisung buying Hyunjin boba to get some information out of him. He knows that the taller boy hadn’t been even a tad reluctant since the idea had been proposed, but somehow he feels that boba was the least compensation he could offer for making Hyunjin nearly betray his friend. Although, it was safe to say that the said boy didn’t seem bothered as he sipped on his boba with a pleased expression.

“Lay it on me, then. Everything I need to know about Minho before asking the big question”, Jisung says, leaning against the back of the chair and settling in for the elaborate conversation that awaits him.

“I don’t know what’s gonna be useful in your case because let’s be honest, I’ve never helped a guy court Minho before―”.

“Hwang Hyunjin, get your facts clear! I am not courting him!”, Jisung says in a high-pitched voice, already hating the direction that this mess was taking. 

Thousands of men in the university and he had to go with Hyunjin’s best friend as his option. Tragic.

“I think urban dictionary would support my statement better than you, Sung. Let’s not get into that right now, though. So, about Minho―”.

Hearing the unfamiliar yet such a popular name once again serves as a cold reminder to Jisung, as he takes in a deep breath to prepare his limited cognitive capacity to remember all the facts thrown at him. If he was going to do this, he should atleast make sure that his days of running away from Jeongin were truly coming to an end.

“As you must know already, he’s a dancer. A great one at that, undoubtedly. However, it’s not his major. He’s a computer science major who’s been in the dance club since freshman year. He was also the second candidate for becoming the club’s president but Felix got the majority, so now he’s the vice.”

“Wait, he’s a computer science major? I swear I’ve never heard that before”.

“That’s not surprising. Since many people got to know about him through the occasional dance videos he uploads on Youtube, they just assume that he must be majoring in it too.”

“But if he’s so good at it, why not major in it?”, Jisung asks, leaning forward on the table in between as the curiousness flushed through his veins. 

Hyunjin shrugs, as he continues to sip on the drink clasped between his hands. 

“He won’t tell me that. Everytime I tried to ask, he’d just say ‘just because’ and so now I’ve stopped asking him completely. Maybe you can be the boyfriend who gets the answer out of him”, he says, with a smirk ghosting over his lips. 

“I’m not even gonna respond to that one. Seriously, just move on to the next thing already”, Jisung rolls his eyes, already exasperated with the other’s unwanted suggestions and remarks.

Hyunjin chuckles at that, before continuing with his previously interrupted dialogue.

“Well, as most people perceive him to be, he’s not very welcoming towards new company. He prefers to spend time with me and Felix mostly, no matter how much he might disagree on that. Although you can’t really blame him for that one, since he’s got a swarm of girls waiting outside everytime he leaves the studio.”

Jisung thinks he sees a bit of sympathy in Hyunjin’s eyes, but he can’t imagine what’s so bizarre about being approached by a group of girls who are crushing on you. Jisung, himself, would undoubtedly be flattered.

“How’d you two become friends with him, then?”

“None of us intended to, really. We all have different majors and Minho’s a year ahead of us, so approaching him with his cold reputation was not in our plan. However, it was around the annual field trip that our club organized, when we got to meet him for the first time. Felix and I were looking for ways to create trouble by sneaking out, and Minho had been appointed as incharge. Needless to say, we were caught and terrified but he just told us to take it easy. Since then, we kind of followed his steps in the club like lost puppies and here we are, now”.

Jisung doesn’t even realise that a fond smile has taken over him by the time Hyunjin’s finished speaking. He’d heard all kinds of stories from people around, some calling Minho ethereal while others regarded him as an overconfident beauty. However, none of them had presented a warm image of the other, like what has been described to him a moment before. It makes Jisung wonder if the older’s anything like what he has heard. 

“You make him sound caring and that’s like breaking any perception I have built of him, whatsoever”, Jisung adds, his voice contrastingly calm with respect to his accusatory dialogue.

Hyunjin’s eyes widen at that, as he ushers Jisung to move closer as if he’s about to tell the biggest secret of them all. Jisung, being himself, is convinced easily enough as he leans further on the table to make himself available in earshot distance from the other.

“Many people don’t know this, but he’s actually warm and fluffy. Almost like a little kitty”, Hyunjin whispers, which earns him a slap on the arm from the boy seated across from him. 

“I don’t see how any of this is going to help me convince him though. I mean, I can’t just go pet him and rub his belly”. 

“On second thought, try that and let me know how it goes”, Hyunjin giggles, his amused self barely hanging on the chair by how hard he was laughing at the image of a similar scene unfolding.

Jisung, however, is unimpressed at that as he says his next words with a straight face. “Tell me something which is actually useful, now.”

“Ugh, okay fine! Just be honest with him. He’s a very straightforward person so I’m sure he would appreciate it if you didn’t try to be flattery.”

“That sounds like something I can work with!”, Jisung says, springing up with joy as finally some useful information is provided to him. 

“How do you propose I should go about it though? Does he have any favorite place, where I can just spring up out of nowhere?”

“I could always take you to the dance club’s studio myself―”, Hyunjin had barely finished his words, before Jisung is back to shoving his face into the other’s space and giving him the biggest puppy eyes. Hyunjin knows that if he hadn’t seen the same pleading face since childhood, he would’ve given into it by now.

“―but I won’t! You can’t let him know that I was involved in this mess because if he does get to know, I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen. Just use this information in a casual manner and tell him you got it out from some of the girls in your department, okay”, he continues before emphasizing the need for Jisung to keep it a secret, again with a much deeper voice.

“He usually goes to the Starbucks near the campus, every morning, to get his dose of caffeine. Surely, there are some days when he feels generous and buys me a drink too but that only happens once in a blue moon. But yeah, the point stands. Go there tomorrow, I’ll try to accompany him so that you can feel at ease in my presence”.

It wasn’t that Jisung’s heart didn’t warm at that, him fully acknowledging all the amount of efforts and troubles Hyunjin was getting into just to make Jisung’s plan a success, but nothing was ever that simple with Hwang Hyunjin in the equation. There was an ulterior motive hidden somewhere, but Jisung knows better than to call it out directly. 

“You sure that isn’t too much work for you?”, he says as he grabs at his own forgotten drink lying at the corner of the table. 

“Nah, I’m sure I can just ask Felix to take notes for the class tomorrow. Even if he doesn’t, nothing’s worth missing you being an embarrassment”, Hyunjin supplies with a cheeky smile, earning him a kick from the smaller boy under the table.

The two boys bid their farewell soon after walking home together, their talks filled with nothing unusual. It’s mostly Hyunjin going on and on about the classmates Jisung swears he has never heard of before, while he himself tried to dodge the gossip by occasionally bringing about some new artists he discovered. Mostly it was hard to grasp Hyunjin’s attention when the other was focused on talking about the relationship drama unfolding in the cafeteria the day before, but sometimes the other’s attention would be perked and he’d end up asking for some recommendations himself. 

After all, Jisung was indeed the certified friend with the best music taste amongst all his peers.

;

For the first time in forever, Jisung wakes up without an alarm. He thinks the entire blame’s on the nervousness blooming inside his chest, but he would be lying if he didn’t take account of the rush in his veins. Here he was, standing outside a campus Starbucks, ready to walk in and talk to a boy who could possibly solve the problem he has been tackling since as long as he can remember. He can’t help but think all of this seems to be too good to be true. Too easy, too simple and somehow too nerve-wracking.

A quick introduction to Minho, and a lasting farewell to Jeongin. 

Nonetheless, pushing the clouding thoughts in his head aside, Jisung walks into the comforting ambience of the place with a confidence he cannot explain. He’s one of the famous boys in his department, not the “bad boy with the leather jacket” vibe obviously but his comforting smile and warm voice has not failed to attract girls from all courses over to him most of the days. Surely, Minho cannot be immune to it. Afterall, according to Hyunjin’s words, the dancer is definitely into guys.

With his mind practicing the different tones he can introduce himself in, Jisung doesn’t pay attention to his surroundings as he walks straight until he feels himself collide into the warm fabric of someone’s coat. He looks up, ready to apologise and continue to walk away on his heels, when the annoyed eyes staring right into his own, knock the breath out of his lungs.

He’s frozen, realising just how perfect their first meeting could’ve been if he had used his honey-caramel voice to introduce himself instead of disrupting the other’s personal space within seconds. Instead, his mind has to always find a way to make the situation a bit fucked up, as if that is his trademark sign of originality.

He hears Hyunjin clear his throat at the side, a glance to the side confirming his doubt about the smirk plastered over the other’s lips, before he backs away immediately. In the blink of an eye, a series of apologies slip away from his mouth, the charming voice long-forgotten, as Jisung stutters and eats away his words.

Minho seems to understand the barely comprehensible words though, as he shoots Jisung a quick glance before nodding his head and continuing to walk towards the door. Hyunjin panics at that, his eyes widening, as he realises Jisung hasn’t even gotten a chance to lay in his request. However, with Minho already clutching the handle of the entrance, and ready to step out, he realises there’s barely anything he can do without giving himself away.

“Minho, wait!”, Jisung barks out, right after Minho’s earshot distance.

His eyes trace the two boys through the glass windows, walking away from the cafeteria with a little swarm of girls following them at a safer distance. He guesses that must be the obsessive fangirls he’s heard all about, the ones which Minho has never entertained but the same ones that are too dedicated to even call his ignorance attractive.

Jisung rushes out, dodging away the group, to catch up with the dancers. It takes him a second to catch his breath, even though he’s barely ran any distance. However, once he’s sure that he wouldn’t be gasping for air in the middle of a sentence, he follows behind Minho before tapping the older’s back softly to garner his attention.

Jisung curses himself for being a creep, as he watches Minho jump a little at the sudden contact. Maybe he wouldn’t even last a second in front of the fangirls, still running behind them, who atleast have the decency to maintain a comfortable distance. Nonetheless, as he turns around, the other’s eyes morph into a look of comfort at the familiar face, followed by confusion a second later.

“Hey, I’m sorry-”

“It’s fine, I didn’t spill anything so you’re okay”, Minho voices out, and Jisung swears the other’s voice is completely different than what he had imagined. Surely, the confident gaze and his taller stature overpowered Jisung’s tiny self, but his voice. It was too calm to match a face this intimidating.

“Oh, I’m not talking about what happened inside―Although, I am _very_ sorry about that too―I’m sorry for sneaking up on you like that”, Jisung says, his hands hidden at the back with his fingers fiddling nervously with the sleeves of his flannel.

His vision shifts to focus on Hyunjin for a second, as the taller boy mouths out the words “Are you kidding me?” with his eyebrow raised to convey every seething bit of his judgement of Jisung’s dumbassery. Well, he guesses he deserves that.

“Okay, why’d you sneak up on me then?”

“Because I wanted to talk to you, and I called out your name earlier but you were already out the door so you didn’t―Nevermind that. I wanted to ask you something.”

Minho seems too unbothered for Jisung’s liking, as the other boy continues towering over him with one hand arrogantly tucked into his jeans’ pocket and the other one holding onto his coffee. Jisung can see an earpod placed carefully into one of his ears, thanking every God out there for not making him have music blasting through both his ears which would’ve just made it harder for him to get the dancer’s attention.

“Go ahead, then.”

“Here? You mean like here, in public?”, Jisung says as he holds back his words _“In front of all these prying ears and your fangirls following us?”_

“I don’t see a reason why not.”

Jisung takes in a deep breath at that, realising he really was going to go ahead with this absurd plan. Months ago, it would’ve been the prettiest girl on campus standing on front of him with a shy smile tugging at her lips as Jisung would have confidently asked her out but here he was today, in front of a man he had never spoken to before, with his knees feeling too weak to support his own weight.

“Uh-okay, sure! If that’s what you want really, then who am I to―Since, it’s a question for you and all, you know. So, yeah if you want me to ask you here in front of possibly every gossip queen on our campus, then why not! Afterall, it’s not really my―”

With his eyes focused on the farthest spot behind Minho, Jisung notices from the corner of his voice as Minho shakes his head at the other. He’s trying, he really is, but just as normal it has been for him to ask out girls in public and earn the title of “the chic guy”, it’s nothing far from a nightmare to have to ask a guy out in front of everyone when he’s not even into the other person! However, Minho doesn’t seem to be aware of his struggles as he turns around, walking away again with Hyunjin lagging behind by a second to sport a comforting pat on Jisung’s shoulder.

Jisung almost lets it go, labelling it as another failed plan when his phone starts vibrating in his pocket. He fishes his phone out, a dreadful caller ID greeting him as soon as the screen’s in his line of vision, and a new wave of determination hits him at his best.

Picking up his pace once again, Jisung stands a few metres away from the boy in question, as he says his next words with an unnamed confidence.

“Lee Minho, will you be my boyfriend?”

;

Jisung doesn’t know how he ended up here, outside the seminar hall that isn’t the house of a boring lecture he’d rather sleep than attend, but instead the place harbors publicising stands of different clubs in the university today as a chance for new students to join. The only club he’s ever thought about getting himself into was the cheerleader club, to which he made it in the last semester, which just somehow increased his popularity amongst the girls.

There are days when he hates it. The excessive makeup, the tiring routine that he has to go over and over again standing on the field in the warmest of days, but he supposes it’s all fine when a girl coyly addresses him and hands him a bottle of water, asking for his number. 

However, today isn’t a chance for him to bask in the glory. He wishes he could enter the place, maybe as a supervisor or member of the cheerleading club and go around testing the new applicants, with shimmering pride in his every step. Instead, he’s entering the place as just another one of them, a new nervous applicant that shakingly picks up a form and enters his details while his friends go around the place looking for something that can catch their interest.

He reads over the paper, the letters “Dance Club Application” burning through his vision as he wonders how did he possibly end up here, in an attempt to just brush off an admirer. Ah yes, it strikes to him that it Hyunjin’s idea obviously that had been proposed over a bottle of soju sneaked away under the shade of a tree near their house. Drunk Jisung, somehow possessing even weaker defenses than the sober one, had agreed to the idea in a heartbeat, calling his friend nothing short of an absolute intellectual.

He can see Minho in the distance, a few feet away from the table Jisung himself leans over to support the paper as he fills in the details, and he decides the past one week hasn’t decreased his loathing for the other even a bit. How could it, when the older boy had so nonchalantly declined Jisung’s offer of going out without even a second of hesitance in front of everyone.

Seungmin had presented him a defense from the dancer’s side, saying that Jisung had no right to hate the other because not only had he been the one springing up a strange question when the poor boy was just getting coffee before class, the declining of the offer hadn’t also impacted him in any way.

Surely, that was somewhat true, because to his own surprise, the news of him basically asking Minho out hadn’t been gossiped about at all and he wondered what was the reason. Obviously Changbin had butted in that moment, saying that people around just possibly took it as one of his dumb acts. He didn’t agree with that, though.

Even after hearing his friends support Minho from every possible point of view, something about the strangeness of an unknown guy suddenly asking you out without even introducing himself, Jisung doesn’t understand the other’s unjustified rudeness at that. That day outside Starbucks, Minho had walked away without sparing him a second glance. 

The days after that had been no different. Every time Jisung dodged away the other’s personal admirers to talk to him before anyone could interrupt, the dancer would just shake his head in a disapproving stance before walking out. Jisung swears even his mother hasn’t looked this disappointed in him through his entire lifetime, as Minho chooses to be in a single time.

He lets it go though, because if there’s one thing that Jisung loves more than attention is challenges and Minho is surely turning out to be the most difficult ones he’s ever faced. Certainly, there were times when he just wanted to deck the other before he could walk away with the arrogance intertwined in his nature, but everytime Jisung reminds himself that the story of him hitting his future fake-boyfriend wouldn’t award much credibility to their relationship. No wait, not a relationship. An arrangement. 

“Now you’re finding out ways to ask me out and embarrass yourself in front of the entire club?”, Minho says as he stands against the counter, staring Jisung down as the other simply passes him a tight-lipped smile before continuing with the task at hand.

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to pull here, Jisung but I can assure you it isn’t going to work.”

“Oh, did you hear that? You finally learned my name. That means we’ve eliminated the stage of stranger danger at last”, Jisung proudly states, as he clicks the pen’s cap back on before placing his application into Minho’s hands.

“You make no sense”.

“I would if you let me explain”, Jisung says, his voice suddenly becoming tinted with exhaustion as it grows into a bare whisper.

“Sung, you done out her―Oh, hey”, he hears Chan walk up to him, as the older places a hand on his shoulder before attending to the man standing in front of him.

“Hey”, Minho says, as uninterested as ever, as he doesn’t make any attempts to match the uplifting tone of the other’s voice. 

“You forgot to sign at the bottom, Jisung”, he continues as he hands the paper and a pen back to the other.

“Surprised you would notice that, since you basically don’t want me in the club anyways. This could’ve been your one chance to reject my perfect application”, Jisung chuckles to himself, with the other two boys making no attempt to laugh at the apprehension hidden inside the words. Chan pats his shoulder instead, which Jisung appreciatively accepts.

“I never said that. See you around”, Minho says, leaving a stunned Jisung and a bubbling Chan frozen at the spot, as he himself seamlessly shifted through the stacks of papers to place Jisung’s application in a neat bundle of others.

Jisung doesn’t know if his mind’s playing tricks on him for all the days he’s wasted running after the other, with the most words he’s gotten out of the other being “go away”. There’s no way that the same Minho hinted at being all right with his presence in the club.

;

“What the fuck do you mean I have to audition?”, Jisung bursts out, causing Hyunjin to flinch at the sudden elevation in the other’s voice.

“Well, you heard me right. We got too many applicants, thanks to Minho’s … fanclub? I don’t even know what to call them but yes they’re too many compared to the number we’re taking in. So, I just wanted to break it to you before you go screaming around in the orientation today”.

Jisung’s eyes burn up, severely contrasting to the pout that’s settling on his lips as he remembers all the guidelines he’d been forced to read on the first day of entering into this place.

“They can’t do that! The university mandates for the clubs to take in all applicants, I’ve read that somewhere.”

“That only works when the applications are less than the club’s capacity, but we’ve got nearly double of it. So yeah, the audition happening? Affirmative”.

“But I don’t even know how to walk straight without tripping! And they expect me to dance on stage?”, Jisung says, pointing towards his elbow that he had managed to get scratched the previous day, as a conclusive piece of evidence.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. All the participants will be given a week’s time to learn a simple routine from one of the members before the audition. I couldn’t sneak a look of the allotment sheet to see who’s going to be guiding you but I can always come over to help later.”

It’s no wonder that after hearing about the audition, Jisung slumps into the club’s practice room, with every bit of excitement and hope being drained from his veins. He wasn’t doubtful of his own self at all, instead self-confidence has always been one of his best features but not when it comes to doing anything that involves any physical work. 

He sits through the orientation, gnawing on his lip, as Felix who had introduced himself as the leader a few minutes back skims through the rules of the club and expected behavior. However, it is after a second of silence that the other mentions the assessment awaiting everyone, which earns a big number of sighs and groans from the crowd.

“What? Did y’all think it would be so easy to make it into the university’s best club with no efforts at all? Well, it would’ve been if so many of you hadn’t registered but unfortunately there’s no other option than to go ahead with this audition so I’d suggest you all buckle up. You have a week’s time, and an allotted member who’ll be teaching you the most basic routine we have here”.

Jisung stops listening at that, refusing to let his plan suffer twice in his head after the absolute torment he’d gone through when he first received the news in the morning. Certainly, being forced to eat with Jeongin through lunch as the other had dragged him away to a restaurant had been no cherry on top. His attention is drawn back to the leader’s words when he hears his name being called out, with a bunch of others that don’t really sound familiar.

“All the names I took in the last batch will be taken up by me. We’ll be practicing for around 2 hours a day, in the third studio from the right. You can have ten minutes before everyone begins for today!”, Felix says, before all the existing members including Minho disappear into the studio one by one.

Jisung stands up, leaning against the wall, as he considers just how bad his luck must be to not get him into the groups allotted to either Hyunjin or Minho. Instead, here he is, groaning and forcefully walking himself into the studio mentioned by his instructor before.

From what he has seen of the other in the last half an hour, Jisung claims that Felix’s absolutely intimidating. There’s no doubt that the other stands on an unreachable ground as the leader of a club Jisung would beg to get in right now, but other than it’s his deep voice and determined eyes which scare him more.

However, he doesn’t expect to open the door to a completely different Felix who greets with a cheeky smile. Felix chirps up at the sight of the man standing at the door, before gesturing for the other to come inside, and saying, “Hey, Jisung!”

;

The next week goes faster than he expects, and while even surprising himself in the process, Jisung tries his best. Hyunjin mocks him for it though, saying his best includes being able to spin around once without falling on his face. However, Jisung doesn’t let himself get discouraged, as he dedicatedly follows Felix’s steps for the two hour practice everyday and then continues to get a secret lesson from Hyunjin, at his place. 

Seungmin mocks him occasionally for being so dedicated, saying that if he had shown even an ounce of his passion to get rid of Jeongin in his studying attempts instead, he would be the top scorer in their group. Needless to say, that earns him some impactful but light punches on his arm which make him shut up for the rest of the remaining days. 

It’s the evening before the event himself, and Jisung sneaks into another studio after taking permission from Felix to stay back a little longer to practice. Hyunjin had told him to go home, saying he’d be there an hour later to perfect his moves but Jisung had decided he needed a little more faith in himself before he could stand on the stage tomorrow.

He breaths in, a bit too deep in an attempt to sneak in some relaxation, as his hands play around with the cords of the system to plug it in his phone. It takes him a few minutes of fumbling and clueless staring at the objects before he finally manages to blast the music through the space. Without wasting even one more second, he begins. 

Jisung steps in the middle of the room, imagining it to be the stage, to save his knees from giving up tomorrow from all the anxiety building up in his head. He shifts along with the tunes, his hand twirling around in a melodic manner as his mind continues to pull at the threads of everything he’s learned from the two experts.

Without a doubt, Jisung can see he’s doing well and how his awkwardness has melted away to allow space for an admiration towards this art to develop. It’s surprising to him how at home he feels, as steps around the cold floor in an attempt to cover the space and turn his performance into a refined routine. However, when the beat drops, Jisung swears his heart does too.

No matter how hard he racks his brain, he just can’t point out what he’s supposed to do with his hands that hang in the air awaiting his next step. He brings them down, expectantly following through the next act but it feels wrong. There was something, an action he can’t remember for the love of god, which he’s supposed to do before slipping into the second part of his performance. 

He huffs while moving towards his phone, to stop the music, and positions himself back in the middle of the studio again with his own image clearly visible to him in the mirror. He lifts his hands, twirling and moving them around in different manners to figure out just what exactly Hyunjin had taught him the night before, but all that greets him is disappointment. His head, that had been expectantly staring at the reflection of his own hands in the mirror, drops down in embarrassment as he wonders if he’s fit for any of this.

The frenzy of his thoughts is broken by cold fingers gripping his wrists, leading his drooping hands back into the air, as they hold him in place. Jisung’s eyes widen at the sudden touch, the sharp contrast against his own warm skin, feeling venomous. Before he has the time to react to the image of the man standing behind him, that he sees in the glasses, the other speaks.

“You’re supposed to slowly bring them up through the sides, graze your left palm with the thumb of your right hand, and then grasp your wrist as it moves down before quickly jerking it down next to your waist on the right side.”

Jisung, although still stunned, follows the other’s commands as the cold touch fades into the warmth of his skin to bloom into a tingling Jisung can’t describe. He does exactly what he’s told, even when the touch loses itself away after guiding him once, but the memory comes back to him now. Hyunjin had instructed him for this exact move before, asking him to put in a lot of strength while jerking his hand down to communicate the sense of a struggle.

“What are you doing here?”, Jisung says, after he settles his palms against his hips and turns around to face Minho.

“Helping you just before you lose your mind trying to remember what exactly you’re supposed to be doing?”, Minho asks, more than answering and it’s that arrogance once again that makes Jisung want to kick him out of the place.

“Or you’re just here to laugh at me and revel around in my misery, because you finally get a chance to get rid of the guy who’s been annoying you.”

“Although dancing barefoot is definitely better as it allows more movement, consider trying in shoes tomorrow if you’re still not confident in your steps. If you feel like you might trip or anything, shoes can save you from the impact of an injury”, Minho says as he ignores Jisung’s words, to pick up the bag laying at the corner of the studio instead.

Jisung scoffs at the other’s words, as he watches the other’s movements like a hawk. He tries to piece it all up, everything that Minho’s said and done in the short time they’ve seen each other, but all that comes to his mind are more and more questions. 

“Why are you pretending to help me when you won’t even hear me out, Minho?”

Somehow the accusation seems to get Minho’s attention, as he halts before exiting the room and speaks again. “I’m not pretending to do anything.”

“Don’t do that, don’t make me feel like I’m the oblivious person here who just can’t see your attempts to drive me away. We both know you’ve had your fair share of chances to hear me out, but instead all you choose to do is walk out on me. You’ve been doing it for weeks, but I’m also running out of patience now.”

“Fine then, explain it to me. Give me all the reasons as to why you’ve been asking me out every time we’ve met”, Minho says, dropping his bag against the floor before slipping down to sit against the wall. His voice sounds hopeful, tinted with a hint of sadness, and Jisung wonders just what he’s gotten himself into at the middle of the night.

“I-I didn’t want to ask you out because I like you or anything. I don’t even want you to like me, or be boyfriends. It’s just that this one kid has been running after me because he likes me, and nothing will budge him off. My friends suggested that I should just pretend to be in a relationship already, and that didn’t work with girls, so somehow we landed on you being the best candidate.”

There’s stark silence in the room, contrasting to just how close to an outburst their voices had been before. It makes Jisung curse himself for pouring out today. There was no way he’s gotten close enough to Minho to make him understand his point of view, and at the end of the day, he knew there is nothing but rejection awaiting him.

“And you still think I’m the one who’s pretending, Jisung?”

“Minho, no wait―”.

“All the best. I really hope you do get in tomorrow”, Minho cuts him off, before walking out of the studio without a single glance in the other boy’s direction.

;

Jisung arrives early the next day, his veins rushing with adrenaline as his eyes trace the little platform constructed in the front of the hall to allow a proper space to every performer. He visualizes through the steps once again, before tightening his laces. Surely, yesterday had made him angrier at Minho than he’s ever been before, but that doesn’t mean he was going to pass against the other’s advice and set himself up for any pain. Knowing himself, he would definitely trip over at some point.

“Hey mate! Oof, look at you already shaking and being so anxious”, Chan says as he walks into the hall, with Seungmin and Changbin following at his heels. The older boy takes Jisung’s hand in his own, knowing that fear rushing through the smaller boy’s mind would’ve definitely turned him ice cold.

“I really don’t wanna fuck up. I wanna prove it to him”, Jisung says, soaking in the incoming warmth.

“Prove what and to whom?”, Seungmin supplies, taking away the question from everyone’s minds.

“Minho, obviously. I can see that he thinks that this is all a joke to me.”

“Don’t worry, Sung. I’m sure you’re going to do well. Hyunjin’s been admiring your hard work so much through the days and that’s gotta amount to something, right? So, just step out there and do what you’ve practiced”, Changbin says, a proud smile accompanying the brief hug he pulls the younger in. 

The reassurance from his friends might’ve been nothing too extraordinary, but Jisung likes the way it makes him step backstage with a little more confidence in his steps. His breathing’s calmer, away from the panicked quick breaths he’d been getting in the past few hours, and he decides that no matter what the outcome is, he needs to take his friends out for dinner soon. They’ve been sporting Jisung’s tedious plans and stupid ranting for the longest time.

It isn’t long before, maybe even just a minute, if Jisung believes his own perception of time today, before his name is called out. He thinks he could panic in the blink of an eye if he wants to, just go batshit crazy about having to _dance_ for the first time _in front of a crowd_ but he strictly chooses not to. He reminds himself of a face that sits there on the other side of the room, ready to criticise and mock him, which fuels him to do better than he ever meant to initially.

He steps on the stage, heels lightly treading till he’s at the centre, before the familiar track plays through the speaker. The familiarity of the music soothes him, but the challenge isn’t left out of it as the images of Felix and Hyunjin flawlessly following the music remind of everything he’s expected to do.

He takes a deep breath and starts, his eyes closed for the initial few seconds, before he dares to open them again only to land on the one face he wishes he hadn’t seen. The face that’s been a constant in his head for the past week, making him lose any strain of sanity and leaving him with a desperation he refuses to name.

Except that’s when he freezes. 

Minho’s eyes also widen at the sudden halt, as the music resumes for a few seconds before it’s stopped by Hyunjin, as Jisung stands there with his nerves getting to him. He doesn’t know, doesn’t understand why Minho staring at him with his eyes boring into Jisung’s figure was more challenging to him than anything he remembers.

Jisung stands there, his confidence drooping down, as his mind refuses to admit that he’s just ruined the last chance he had at proving himself. He doesn’t want to imagine the look of pride, the arrogance in Minho’s words as he chastises him for trying in the first place. Everything that separates him and Minho right now is loads of humiliation, and Jisung refuses to let himself walk along with it so easily.

“I-I’m sorry, I don’t know what just happened. Please, let me try again. I swear I’ve memorized the choreography and I can do it. Just one more chance-”.

“Let us consider for a moment, Jisung”, Felix speaks up, cutting off Jisung’s string of pleas.

After a minute of whispering that didn’t reach Jisung’s ears at the least, he sees Minho nodding towards Hyunjin. When the music starts playing again, with the tunes resumed to start from the beginning, Jisung’s overwhelmed with happiness and a stronger conviction.

“Go ahead, Jisung”, Felix says, over the music, with a smile Jisung recognizes from his first day at practice.

Unhesitantly, he begins again. It’s the same routine, a few strides in a particular direction followed by steps Jisung never believed himself to be able to execute but here he is nonetheless. He lands the choreography with more power than before, the essence of struggle in pulling his hand down at that one moment actually seeping into his mind without Hyunjin having to explain it to him. He knows he’s not the best out of everyone who’s already performed or the ones who await their turn, but by the moment the music comes to an end, he knows he’s proud of himself for making it.

He stands on the stage, his breathing rushed and his chest heaving, as he hears his friends clap and whistle praises at him.

“That was great, Jisung! Shall we move on to some questions now?”, Eunji, one of the senior club members’, supplies. He nods in response, as a mic is handed to him by one of the guys from the sound management team.

“I remember you saying to me on the first day that dancing was the last thing you can see yourself doing, then what is it that suddenly motivated you to pursue the same, Jisung?”, Felix asks, making Jisung regretful of his own words that he had carelessly thrown in their first practice. 

However, Jisung recognizes there’s no time for remorse about the past. He can only use this opportunity to be as honest as he can.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to initially and I forced myself to. I’ve seen people around me, being so in love with dancing itself that it brings them joy, but I could never see myself as one of them. But now, I’m genuinely grateful to my friends and myself who pushed me to try this because now it doesn’t feel like something I have to do. Instead, it’s something I want to”, Jisung says, his eyes fleeting towards Hyunjin as an acknowledgement of the other’s efforts.

“How can you be sure that you won’t just get bored of it soon? Maybe one week later you stop feeling that way, give up on trying to force yourself as you did initially?”

“I’m sure I won’t, as long as I see him dancing”, Jisung stares at Minho, who seems to be a deer caught in the headlights as all the attention is directed to him within the blink of an eye.

“Minho’s one of the reasons, and maybe the only one that matters at this point, that I’m here trying instead of giving up on the second day of having my feet sore from practicing. He probably doesn’t know it, but I saw him dancing one day while I was contemplating going into the studio for practice, and it was … warm. I could see him being there in the moment, so at home with the feeling of moving against the sharp beats and instrumental without a worry in the world. At that moment, I felt like I wanted that too. I wanted to fall in love with something that I choose, to let it define me with pleasure. So, yeah. I just―I just hope that someday I grow to adore something, which maybe is dancing, as much as Minho adores it.”

;

“Hey, congratulations. You made it”, Minho says, causing Jisung to turn around from his group of friends.

After the audition had taken place with all the applicants putting in the best of their efforts, Jisung had waited with his friends for the results to be announced. All of them had tried to reassure him, their comments and praises appreciating him for the performance. However, no one dared to bring up the answers he had voiced out during the interview, to which Jisung was unknowingly thankful because at the end of the day, he himself refuses to acknowledge what had prompted him to say any of that.

“Yeah, I did”, Jisung nods along, watching his friends from the corner of his eyes as they excuse themselves to step out of backstage.

“You did really well, and I’m glad you took my suggestion regarding the shoes. Although now that you already are pretty confident with this routine, I’d suggest you perfect it baref―”.

“I got into the club, Minho. I proved myself”, Jisung says, a content smile ghosting on his lips as he watches a similar expression take over the dancer’s face.

“You’re right, you absolutely did. I should apologise for being so rude to you. I shouldn’t have shut you out from the first day. Instead, hearing you out would’ve been a better decision but I allowed my judgement to be clouded. I’m sorry about that, Jisung. I really―”.

“It’s okay, I get it. I would’ve also been uncomfortable if a random person approached and asked me out without even introducing himself. I’m sure my persistent attempts to get you to agree for the next week didn’t help my case either, so you don’t have to apologise or say anything.”

“Are you suggesting that we just move on being annoying asses towards each other?”, Minho giggles, feeling more at ease with the other with everything between them being much more clear.

“And they say you’re beauty with no brains.”

“Literally no one says that. I’m a computer science major, Jisung”, Minho scoffs at the other’s statement.

“And I still can’t believe that”, Jisung says, giggling at the reminder of his own surprise when he had first learned about Minho’s major. 

However, when a comfortable silence settles over him, the question that he’s been dreading to ask after all the rejections he’s faced makes its way back to his mind. Jisung knows this is the moment, that it’s now or never and if he lets himself lose now, there would be nothing short of misery awaiting him for the remaining years of university life. So, he pushes the hesitance aside, and clears his throat before voicing out his thoughts.

“So, about the whole deal I’ve been bugging you about. Have you decided if you’ll help me—”

“I’ll be your boyfriend, Jisung.”

Jisung sputters at that, failing to get any words out as he stands frozen at a spot for the second time that day. Not only had Minho given him hell, he had also called Jisung out for his ulterior motives of joining the dance club. For a man that seems to be arrogant, he is surely very confusing when it comes to communicating his thoughts.

“Wait, seriously? You’ll help me chase away Jeongin?”

“Yeah, well I guess that’s kinda my responsibility as your date now isn’t it?”, Minho smiles, his eyes turning into crescents at the ease he holds in his responses.

“Yeah, I thin―wait, just wait. Weren’t you uncomfortable with this whole idea, with me chasing you around and now suddenly you want to agree to this after I’ve stopped bugging you? When that’s literally all you wanted”, Jisung gapes at the other, unable to make any sense of his actions.

“I don’t think I have or ever will be uncomfortable with you, Jisung.”

“So you’re saying that you’re willingly signing up to be a part of my misery?”

Minho grins at that, as he walks closer to Jisung, only to stand a few inches away from him. There’s a shade of pink dusting his cheeks, and Jisung wonders why he can’t get himself to stop thinking about just how much it suits the other.

“I think you deserve something after all the efforts you’ve put in, don’t you? And don’t worry boyfriend, your misery is just as much as mine, especially if it’s someone trying to steal you away.”

**Author's Note:**

> `i almost didn’t finish this and dropped out because .. uni .. but im thankful to my friends for pushing me to write and motivating me to contribute a little to the idea of minsung as sarawatine which is v much needed ! also thank u to my beta reader for helping me out, i couldn’t have developed this story without u <33`   
>  ` hehe thank you for reading, i hope you enjoyed it ^_^ do leave some comments if u liked the work and would like some future sequel maybe ??`


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